


We Don't Talk Anymore

by NovaStars42



Series: The Kids Aren't Alright [18]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Bad Decisions, Gen, Growing Up, Humanstuck, Kankri can't deal, Latula is -that- friend, Misunderstandings, Realization, Taco Bell, Unrequited Love, bad friend, i guess, lessons in how not to act, the one whos really not your friend, you know the one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 16:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9192341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaStars42/pseuds/NovaStars42
Summary: Kankri finds solace in an unlikely way after some extremely bad news.End act 2.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know what's going on with my life anymore. What I DO know is that I do have some updates. I don’t write these in a linear way, sometimes I write short cliff note versions of chapters, sometimes I write chapters halfway and then quit, and sometimes I work with them in parts. I’ve got the intermission half written and the beginning of Act 3 almost finished, it just needs a bridge.
> 
>  
> 
> edit 1/10/17  
> So I wrote this really quickly because I hated it. I kind of made things seem like Kankri was a 'nice guy', and tried to punish Latula for something? What I didn't do was go in to detail about their relationship. 
> 
> Latula knows Kankri has feelings for her, and does not think about how she hurts Kankri by only being is part time friend, romance aside.  
> Kankri is being shitty because he has no right to be mad over Latula doing her own thing. This is told Via Kankri's POV so we only get his side.

Morning at the Vantas house was never peaceful. My father had already left for work, leaving my brother and I to mind ourselves on another hot sunny day. Unfortunately, I hardly ever got to sleep in.

I rose from my bed, tired still from a late night up blogging. Something was thumping downstairs, probably my brother Karkat. He was always up early because the earlier he got up, the earlier his boyfriend could come over. The two were inseparable, and I understood why our house was the meeting place.

My father and I had always been accepting of Karkat. That was a sharp contrast to Dave’s own home, where his orientation was a secret. It absolutely puzzled me how his own father could treat his children that way.

Stretching my limbs, I dressed for the day and journeyed downstairs.

The source of the thumping was not my younger brother as I suspected. It was knocking on my front door. Who could it be at this hour of the morning, I wondered, but after glancing at the clock I saw how late it was. It was nearly eleven. I’d need to be to work in an hour. I went to the door in a hurry, having no idea how long this person had been knocking.

I discovered Latula Pyrope on my front porch, grinning like a fox.

I’d always thought she was so pretty. She had long tresses of black hair that swept to her mid back, and the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever had the pleasure of seeing. I also admired her sense of style. She never wore the usual mainstream brands, instead choosing some of the lesser known skateboarding brands. She always wore Vans. She had every shoe in every color, I swore. I’d bought a pair just like her black ones once.

“Hey, Kankz!” She greeted loudly, using her fingers to brush through her long hair.

“Good morning, Latula,” I returned, watching her pull a black band off of her wrist to tie back her hair.

I’d had a crush on her since the eighth grade. I think everyone knew it but her.

“Hey, I just wanted to stop by and chat for just a sec, that cool?” She asked, shifting her weight from one hip to the other.

“That would suit me just fine,” I grinned, “please, come in.”

“Nah, I think I’m okay out here. I’m getting ready to leave here in just a second!” She rejected. My smile fell from my face.

“Leave? Where are you going?”

Latula just sort of laughed awkwardly, fidgeting with her hair again. She pulled the band out to fuss with it more. “Well so, you see, Mituna and I are taking off in like ten minutes. I’m driving us to Las Vegas, you know, to get married.”

My jaw dropped and I couldn’t find words to move it.

“Heh, yeah! So! I just wanted to say bye to an awesome friend Kankz! You’ve been a super rad guy and I’m gonna see you on the flip side!”

“Are- are you leaving? For good?” I asked in disbelief.

“Oh no!” Her face changed rapidly to a deep worry, “no! I’m gonna be back in a couple of days. I figure it’ll take us like five to get there and five back?”

I didn’t reply. I didn’t know if I could.

I guess somewhere deep down I’d always hoped she’d leave Mituna. Especially during the tail end of our senior year, when he’d grown mean and doubly nasty. She never did, though. They were high school sweethearts and then some.

Now she was gonna marry this guy and I was never going to have a chance.

I’d dropped all the hints, but I’d never made a move, and now I wanted to beat the shit out of myself for it.

“Kankri? You okay?”

“No, I- Latula, is this really such a good idea?” I asked. I was offended and I didn’t keep the tone out of my voice.

I watched her face contort into confusion like she wasn’t sure how to react. “What?”

“I said, is this really such a good idea? Have you thought for a second about the consequences? Did you ask your mother? How does his father feel? It’s a really bad idea to go running off into the wild blue yonder without a sensible plan,” I was through worrying about her feelings. I was probably taking out my feelings on her. This wasn’t her fault but it felt so good to be mad. She was either too stuck up Mituna Captor’s ass or ignoring me outright not to see I was in love with her. I’d be mad at myself later, but right now I felt so raw. Like she’d ripped off the band-aid.

“You know, if I didn’t know better, it sounds kinda like your trying to tell me what to do?” I watched Latula’s expression become the passive sort of angry she did in arguments at school. Like she was above me.

“I suppose I am,” I snapped, “You’re making a bad choice, Latula. You need to go home and think with a clear head.”

“Hey, fuck off hard ass! You can’t tell me what to do! I’m a legal adult and I can fucking get married if I want to!” She was outraged by now, nearly yelling at me. I didn’t care.

“Then maybe you should think like an adult too,” I snarked.

She’d had enough. Without another word she turned off of my porch and left, flipping me the bird halfway across my lawn on her way home. Alright, fine. I turned too and slammed the door. I hoped she heard the force I’d used as the steel meet the doorframe.

I threw myself down on our couch, my head in my hands and sighed.

I wanted to cry. The girl of my dreams was not only mad at me, but she was about to be out of my grasp forever. I snuffed, but I refused to start crying now. There was a time and place for crying and that was not right before I went to work.

I went upstairs. I took a shower. I put on my uniform. I went to work. I moved mechanically, doing everything I could to overload my senses to I wouldn’t have to think about Latula. I turned the water up so hot it burned, I put my belt on too tight, I blasted the radio and drove eighty down the highway. I arrived at work late for my shift, but I didn’t care. My manager wasn’t there to yell at me.

I fucking hated working at Taco Bell. I couldn’t work the register taking orders like usual, so my coworkers were all pissed. None of them liked me much anyway, I didn’t care. I slopped meat in tacos most of the day.

Around noon my co-worker left on a smoke break and nobody else knew how to operate the register. Throwing my gloves in the trash, I begrudgingly went to the front.

Standing on the other side of the counter, sipping a Pepsi was my neighbor, Damara Megido.

“Hello, did he already take your order?” I asked, surveying the mall food court. Today had been pretty slow and it looked like it would remain that way.

“Yeah, just waiting for my crunchwrap,” she grinned. She looked so smug in her too short skirt and low cut blouse. I couldn’t believe her mother let her out of the house like that.

I didn’t really like her. I didn’t like most people.

“So,” she drawled, “did you hear about Latula and Mituna?”

I huffed, narrowing my eyes. “What of it?”

I watched her eyebrows raise. She knew I was angry, but she was going to pretend she didn’t.

“Oh, nothing,” she replied, uninterested, “I just happened to see you two fight this morning.”

“We weren’t fighting,” I rejected.

“What would you call that then?” She asked, turning her hand over to study her nails. She was still grinning, and I don’t think I’d ever hated anyone as much as I did her in that moment.

“Listen, Kankri,” she said finally, looking up and giving me her full attention. “Latula Pyrope is the dumbest bitch I’ve ever meet. She’s the kind of girl who’s so stuck to her boyfriend she doesn’t have any other friends. She treats you badly, and she knows it. If you wanna come hang out with me and Cronus one night this week, you can. I know what it’s like to be chosen second over and over.”

My co-worker came up behind me and slid her tray of food onto the counter. She grabbed it with one hand and walked away, her hard soled shoes clicking on the mall floor. I watched her go. She walked all the way across the food court and sat down at a table with Cronus Ampora and the two ate lunch together.

I processed a couple more orders during the time they ate, and I watched them ride the escalator down to the mall’s first floor and out of sight.

When I took my break an hour later I scrolled through my phone, checking Facebook and twitter. I didn’t follow Latula, Mituna, Damara, or Cronus. Just all my social justice warrior bullshit. It was bullshit, all of it. I couldn’t believe I’d never seen that before. Why the fuck was I up half the night fighting on the internet for, anyway?

I thought back to all the times Porrim had tried explaining things to me about feminism, but I’d been so concerned about my own ideas about problems that didn’t even matter to listen. My mouth went dry. Oh. Wow. I felt like an asshole.

I guessed maybe, from here on out I should probably start doing more listening than talking. Latula had been a bad friend to me, but what kind of friend was I being to Porrim? I needed to work on that too.

My phone vibrated with a text message, appearing on the top of my screen as a notification. It was Porrim, and I was sure she’d heard about Latula and I.

>> From: Porrim Message: You doing anything after work? Timestamp: 1:04>>

I typed return message quickly.

>>To: Porrim Message: I wasn't planning on it. Would you like to do something? Timestamp: 1:04>>

>>From: Porrim Message: You never ask to hang out first. Are you upset? Timestamp: 1:04>>

“Kankri! Your breaks over!” My co-worker shouted.

“Coming!” I called back and looked down at my phone one last time.

>>To: Porrim Message: I'm mad, but that's not the point. I just kind of realized something. I'll see you tonight. Timestamp: 1:05>>

I pocketed my phone and went back to work.  


**Author's Note:**

> This is short but it needed to happen to 1) further my plot and 2) put Kankri in a position to do what he needs to, to have the ending I want happen.


End file.
